K.N. Houk, D.J. Tantillo, C. Stanton, Y. Hu: What Has Theory and Crystallography Revealed About the Mechanism of Catalysis by Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase?N. Wu, E.F. Pai: Crystallographic Studies of Native and Mutant Orotidine 5'Phosphate Decarboxylases; B.G.

with contributions by numerous experts

Over the past forty years, good-old fashioned colloid chemistry has undergone something of a revolution, transforming itself from little more than a collection of qualitative observations of the macroscopic behavior of some complex systems into a discipline with a solid theoretical foundation and a whole to- boxofnew chemical techniques. It can now boast a set of concepts which go a long way towards providing an understanding of the many strange and interesting behavior patterns exhibited by natural and artificial systems on the mesoscale. This second volume of"Topics in Current Chemistry"on...

Molecular properties and reactions are controlled by electrons in the molecules. Electrons had been thought to be particles. Quantum mechanics showed that el- trons have properties not only as particles but also as waves. A chemical theory is required to think about the wave properties of electrons in molecules. These prop- ties are well represented by orbitals, which contain the amplitude and phase ch- acteristics of waves. This volume is a result of our attempt to establish a theory of chemistry in terms of orbitals -- A Chemical Orbital Theory. The amplitude of orbitals represents a...

bacterial carbohydrate recognition are conveyed, covering Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria, in Chapter 4 Streptococci and Staphylococci, and in Chapter 5, carbohydrate binding specificities of Helicobacter pylori. In Chapter 6, Bitter sweetness of complexity, the collected reflections on mic- bial adhesion are expanded by a perspective on a broader impact of glycosylation on cellular adhesion, motility and regulatory processes, paralleling the complexity of N-glycan structures on cell surfaces. It highlights particularly how structural details of N-glycans have been causally...

"Ionic liquids will never find application in industry," "I don't understand this fad for ionic liquids" and "there is no widespread interest in these systems" are just three of quotes from the reports of referees for research proposals that I have received over the years. I wonder what these people think today. There are currently at least nine large-scale industrial uses of ionic liquids, including, we now rec- nise, the production of ?-Caprolactam (a monomer for the production of nylon-6) 1]. There has been a steady increase in the interest in ionic liquids for well over a decade and last...

This book is the second of two volumes that deal with discovery of chemical pathways of biosynthesis of natural products (secondary metabolites). The first volume covered the use of isotopes in biosynthetic research and the formation of enzyme cofactors and reduced polyketides. This second volume describes biosynthesis of aromatic (unreduced) polyketides, enzymes responsible for cyclization of terpenoids (isoprenoids), and biochemical generation of selected classes of alkaloids (prenylated tryptophan, tropane, pyrrolizidine). Knowledge of the pathways and the techniques to elucidate them...

Dendrimers are a class of highly branched molecules that combine the properties of polymers and small discrete molecules. One classified among the exotic molecules of chemistry, dendrimers have attracted considerable attention in recent years, as their unique host/guest properties and their capability of being functionalized in the periphery as well in the core have led to new materials with a great potential for applications. This volume presents the state of art in this blossoming area, written by pioneers in the fields. Covering the synthetic, supramolecular, stereochemical, host/guest and...

Strong non-ionic bases are highly advantageous as stoichiometric reagents and as catalysts in synthetic organic chemistry owing to side reactions that f- quently occur when ionic bases such as LDA or alkali metal alkoxides are employed. A second reason that non-ionic bases are frequently more useful in these applications is that such bases are often more soluble in less polar organic solvents, particularly at low temperatures. Thirdly, non-ionic bases can provide reactive naked or tightly associated deprotonated substrate anions that are s- bilized by the relatively large, poorly solvated...